Highland Park extends nursery school lease

Mark Kodiak Ukena / Pioneer Press

Children play outdoors in June at the Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center. The city of Highland Park is poised to extend the nursery school's $60-a-month lease for space within the Karger Center until mid-June 2019.

Children play outdoors in June at the Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center. The city of Highland Park is poised to extend the nursery school's $60-a-month lease for space within the Karger Center until mid-June 2019. (Mark Kodiak Ukena / Pioneer Press)

A Highland Park nursery school won't have to move from its home of 53 years by June 2018 after all.

The Highland Park City Council Monday voted to extend the nursery school's $60-a-month lease for space within the Karger Center through June 2019.

Assistant City Manager Rob Sabo said the new expiration date reflects the projected timing for the possible sale and redevelopment of the property.

In May, the city put a 2.6-acre site, which includes the Karger Center at 1850 Green Bay Road, on the market for $3.5 million. At the time, the city notified the Highland Park Community Nursery School and Day Care Center that it would need to relocate from its longtime home by June.

"This is really good news for our parents, that we have got this under control," said Lisa Adelmund, executive director of the nursery school. Adelmund said her organization is still following up on leads about a future location.

"We feel confident we will have something, but it is not official," she said.

"We were pushing to have something in mind by the end of the month so we don't miss that window of opportunity to find families who might want to enroll in our school," Adelmund said.

She said the center should be advertising in October for the next school year.

Adelmund said the extra time will allow for an orderly transition and give the nursery school more time to raise funds and complete building renovations necessary to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school won't have to interrupt operations because the new facility isn't ready, she noted.

The center serves about 113 children in full and part-day programs. The center provides half-day nursery school starting at age 2 1/2, year-round day care for 3- and 4-year-olds and a state-funded Preschool for All program for children deemed at risk of academic failure based on state criteria.

The center also provides before-school care for elementary school students and an after-kindergarten enrichment program.

The city also is revising and extending the Karger Center lease for RhythMix, a rhythmic gymnastics training program that uses the facility's gymnasium six days a week. According to the city, RhythMix' Highland Park location serves 45 students ages 3 and up.

At the tenant's request, the city is lowering the annual rent for the third year of the lease from $40,000 to $30,000, and extending the lease until mid-June of 2019.

Unit 14 Theatre Company, made up of high school and college-aged performers and crew members, will be able to use the Karger Center during June, July, August and December of 2018 at a cost of $60 a month.

Current zoning on the Karger Center property would allow a residential development of up to five stories and 63 feet in height at a density of 65 units per acre if developed as a planned development, according to city documents.